kent place names - i

Ickhams name preserves the original size of the settlement the village once comprised a yoke of land. This is the Old English geoc, a measure roughly equivalent to fifty acres. Here it is combined with ham, a homestead or village. It first appears in 785 as Ioccham.

Ide Hill first shows up on record in 1250 as Edythehelle. It is an eponymic denoting Ediths hill, from the Old English hyll hill.

Ightham was literally Ehtas village, from the Old English ham village, homestead. It first appears as Ehteham in around 1100.

Ivychurch, as one might expect, denotes an ivy-covered church. Its first recorded form was Iuecirce in the eleventh century looking back to Old English ifig ivy and cirice church.

Iwade first appears on record in 1179 as Ywada. The roots are Old English iw yew-tree and wæd ford. The general sense is of a crossing-place where yew-trees grow the crossing, in this case, being to the Isle of Sheppey.